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The Lord Appears to Solomon Again

(2 Chronicles 7.11-22)

The Lord's temple and Solomon's palace were now finished, and Solomon had built everything he wanted. (A) Some time later the Lord appeared to him again in a dream, just as he had done at Gibeon. (B) The Lord said:

I heard your prayer and what you asked me to do. This temple you have built is where I will be worshiped forever. It belongs to me, and I will never stop watching over it.

You must obey me, as your father David did, and be honest and fair. Obey my laws and teachings, (C) and I will keep my promise to David that someone from your family will always be king of Israel.

But if you or any of your descendants disobey my commands or start worshiping foreign gods, I will no longer let my people Israel live in this land I gave them. I will desert this temple where I said I would be worshiped. Then people everywhere will think this nation is only a joke and will make fun of it. (D) This temple will become a pile of rocks![a] Everyone who walks by will be shocked, and they will ask, “Why did the Lord do such a terrible thing to his people and to this temple?” Then they will answer, “We know why the Lord did this. The people of Israel rejected the Lord their God, who rescued their ancestors from Egypt, and they started worshiping other gods.”

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Footnotes

  1. 9.8 a pile of rocks: Some ancient translations; Hebrew “high.”

The Lord Appears to Solomon(A)

When Solomon had finished(B) building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, the Lord appeared(C) to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him:

“I have heard(D) the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name(E) there forever. My eyes(F) and my heart will always be there.

“As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart(G) and uprightness, as David(H) your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,(I) I will establish(J) your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail(K) to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

“But if you[a] or your descendants turn away(L) from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you[b] and go off to serve other gods(M) and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land(N) I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name.(O) Israel will then become a byword(P) and an object of ridicule(Q) among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All[c] who pass by will be appalled(R) and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’(S) People will answer,(T) ‘Because they have forsaken(U) the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster(V) on them.’”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:6 The Hebrew is plural.
  2. 1 Kings 9:6 The Hebrew is plural.
  3. 1 Kings 9:8 See some Septuagint manuscripts, Old Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Targum; Hebrew And though this temple is now imposing, all